Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Swiss probe $139M SNC-Lavalin laundering case

Posted: Nov 25, 2012 11:20 AM ET

Last Updated: Nov 25, 2012 11:55 AM ET

Prosecutors
in Switzerland have formally indicted former SNC-Lavalin executive
Riadh Ben Aissa on allegations he laundered vast sums of money tied to
at least $139 million in mysterious payments by the company, according
to Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

CBC
News has also learned RCMP officials are working with Swiss police and
have travelled to Switzerland to assist in the joint investigation.

Citing
multiple confidential sources in Switzerland and North Africa, RTS
investigative reporter Yves Steiner told CBC News that Swiss authorities
have tracked money flowing from the Canadian engineering conglomerate
to Swiss bank accounts registered to companies in the British Virgin
Islands. Some of the funds then went directly into Swiss bank accounts
controlled by Ben Aïssa, Steiner said his sources told him, and Swiss
officials are working with the RCMP to get to the bottom of the mystery.

"Swiss
investigators are interested in this network of companies and accounts,
transfers that were allegedly authorized by Riadh Ben Aissa to obtain
contracts in Tunisia and, especially, Libya," RTS reported Sunday.

The
RCMP has not commented on these latest reports but has previously
refused to answer questions, citing the ongoing investigation.

Prosecutors
have also charged Geneva-based lawyer Roland Kaufman with money
laundering and corruption. According to RTS, authorities accuse him of
helping Ben Aissa to set up two companies, Dinova and Duvel Securities,
registered in the British Virgin Islands. The broadcaster reports
investigators are probing millions of dollars in payments from
SNC-Lavalin to those companies’ Swiss bank accounts dating back as early
as 2001.

CBC
News placed multiple calls to Dinova and Duvel Securites last week but
was unable to reach either of the lone directors listed on the company’s
registration records in the BVI.

Swiss
authorities are still trying to sort out the exact movements of the
$139 million, Steiner said, and have interviewed several SNC-Lavalin
officials. CBC News has confirmed that some interviews were completed in
April, and that Sami Bebawi, Ben Aïssa's predecessor as head of
international construction projects, flew to Switzerland last week to
talk to Swiss prosecutors.

"I
have many, many sources who say, 'OK, there is a system of corruption,
there is a system of money laundering — or could be used for this kind
of thing at least — in fact based here in Geneva,'" Steiner told CBC
News.

$139M more than double what SNC audit found

The
RTS report that investigators are tracking $130 million Swiss francs
($139 million Cdn) only deepens the mystery around SNC-Lavalin payments
to procure construction projects given the company’s own announcement in
March that audits had discovered only $56 million in improper payments.

Neither
Ben Aïssa's Canadian nor his Swiss lawyer would comment on these latest
allegations. Reached Saturday, Canadian lawyer Michael Edelson did say,
however, that Ben Aissa is not pleased with a recently launched civil
suit by his brother against SNC. On Nov. 5, orthopedic trauma specialist
Rafik Ben Aissa filed a $5-million lawsuit against SNC-Lavalin accusing
the company of using his brother as a scapegoat and damaging his
family’s name.

An RCMP officer watches over the lobby of SNC-Lavalin's Montreal headquarters during a police raid in April.(Graham Hughes/CP)

"SNC-Lavalin
knowingly allowed and condoned the use of millions of dollars to fund
lobbyists in the Middle East to get lucrative contracts with major
leaders of some countries, particularly in Libya," the suit claims. None
of its allegations have been tested in court.

The
company declined CBC’s request for an interview with its CEO and would
not answer whether Riadh Ben Aissa could have singlehandedly approved
and concealed the $139 million in payments.

“We
continue to collaborate in all investigations with authorities as they
are pursued,” SNC-Lavalin spokesperson Leslie Quinton said in an emailed
statement.

“Because
these investigations are ongoing and we continue to cooperate,
unfortunately there is nothing further that we are able to add at this
time, except to reiterate that we hope that if anyone is found to have
committed any wrongdoing, they are brought to justice,” she said.

The ultimate purpose of the $139 million in SNC-Lavalin payments remains unclear.

However,
an SNC insider — the same person who anonymously accused Ben Aissa of
wrongdoing in a December 2011 "poison pen" letter to company directors
and executives — told CBC News "more has to be done" within the company.

"There
is no way that kind of money is moved without approvals" from people
still within the company, the source said. "Employees who detested the
rule of Ben Aissa are sympathetic to Ben Aïssa's [brother's] lawsuit
that claims that the management knew and encouraged his acts.

"This is not a story of foreign criminals, but a sad story of Canadian greed."

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

David, I dont follow the mutinational corps SNC Lavalin very closely. The amount of money $139 million should be easy enough to recover though. They can run up the cost of the evergreen line and the good folks at Translink will cough up the "our" dough.13